#alabama music

[nugothrhythms]

"Baron" by Warrior, Alabama-based goth rock and blackwave act Ritual Blood off of 2022 release Blessed Moon

[daddysmusicblog]

[mywifeleftme]

187: Phosphorescent // Muchacho

Muchacho Phosphorescent 2013, Dead Oceans (Bandcamp)

I thought Muchacho was a masterpiece when I first heard it ten years ago, and it’s never really slipped in my estimation. We’re far enough now from the early ‘10s to have our own personal senses of what has and has not lasted—the water level has risen and the mountaintops have become islands. Muchacho is the soundtrack to the wanderings of a mystic with decidedly clay feet, someone whose eyes have been burned from staring too long at the sun in search of God, brimming with sweetness and a fearful need who’ll nonetheless disappear on you without notice for months at a time. A terrible man to date (circa 2010 anyway), in other words, but one with the magnetism that comes from living intensely, as though music, love, bacchanalia, and the soul are matters with real stakes.

According to singer-songwriter Matthew Houck, the songs arose after returning from a tour and finding his personal life in ruins: “lost the place, lost the girl, lost my mind.” And while depicting yourself on an album sleeve surrounded by multiple women in various states of undress isn’t the greatest mea culpa I’ve ever come across, as an evocation of the state of freedom and fragility that comes when the bottom drops out, Muchacho is captivating. Houck uses ‘Hej’ (sounds like ‘hey’) as his own pet name for God, and borrows the old mystical poetry trick of couching his lyrics as simultaneous addresses to an absent lover and to the divine. There’s a sense of surrender throughout, whether to the thrill of the drive (“Ride On/Right On”), dissolution (“Terror in the Canyons”), or the whirlwind (“A New Anhedonia”). A lot of the language has the taste of Bible leather, but at bottom, Muchacho’s weary vibe can be summed up in the words of its lurching title track:

“I found some fortune, found some fame I found they cauterized my veins Hej, I've been fucked up. And I've been a fool But like the shepherd to the lamb Like the wave unto the sand I'll fix myself up. To come and be with you.”

Houck’s plaintive moan and a shimmering fiddle loop that makes time feel simultaneously like it’s hurtling forward and suspended in place have given Muchacho’s best known track, “Song for Zula,” a long afterlife in soundtrack licensing, but there’s something (inadvertently, I think) subversive about a song with “Zula”’s caged, vehement grief turning up on a show like Superstore. What to make of a nostalgic sitcom montage on the importance of finding moments of reprieve at your workaday job being set to a piece that concludes with the words, “And I could kill you with my bare hands if I was free”? That’s what happens when you let a song out into the world—but with any luck a few have followed its silver line back to Muchacho, and found themselves a shade more debauched and enlightened for the trip.

187/365

[intheholler]

yet another queer from the appalachians (the foothills down in 'bama, but still!) just chiming in to thank you for this blog. I ran away from that area over a decade ago now and have been missing it sorely. by chance, do you have any recs for good youtube channels, books, or other things about/by folks from the appalachians?

appalachian alabama what's up!!

i so have some recs!

okay first up is adeem the artist who is uncomfortably underrated so i'm gonna say a little more on them. they're a nonbinary pansexual musician from eastern tn and they make amazing folk country that is commentary on appalachian culture, and their experiences growing up here. some fav songs of mine are asheville blues, i never came out, and my personal favorite 'fuck you' to modern country for exploiting our culture, i wish you would have been a cowboy

josiah and the bonnevilles are another favorite a friend put me onto. "i am appalachia" makes me cry and i'll admit that openly. will always always rec crooked still for their appalachian folk covers/murder ballad covers. literally every song. just all of them

as for books: imo the big three. what you are getting wrong about appalachia by elizabeth catte is a must read. appalachian reckoning: a region responds to hillbilly elegy is another, and hill women by cassie chambers

in a sea of SpOoKy ApPaLaChIa bullshit on tiktok, there is one appalachian account that i delight in the most. andiemarire is a gem

there's just from the top of my head though (which is very shallow these days, as yall may tell by my absence). pls reblog if y'all have more!

[nataliebeauty]

New here, down for naughty chat and fun

Free to DM 🥵

[89hitokiri]

👋

Bonus Samurai POP

(Cyberpunk Pop Art)

*More on my Redbubble. Link in my profile under INDEX.

**"You Have Discovered a Treasure!😄"**

"Listen to the Music!"👋

[goldfishwithablowtorch]

Listening to different beast after legendary because ✨️spotify free✨️ and I can't stop laughing because

"If I fight these monsters is it you I'll find..."

"LET'S CUT THE CHARADE YOU ARE NO WIFE OF MINE" *violent ass horn*

And for a second I was just like "uuummmmmm buddy that's your son" I'm dying help💀💀💀

[yourwizardofaus]

Elvis during his evening show in Huntsville, AL, on September 6, 1976.

[moonstruation]

Ethel Cain, south alabama (god's country demo)

[augustaaaa]

𝑬𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒍 𝑪𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚♡

[trans-musicians]

The Official Bard of Baldwin County (she/they)

Another favourite from the submitter:

Spotify | Apple | Insta

The Bard is a folk artist from Alabama, USA. Her songs explore gender identity, growing up in the southern United States, and bugs.

FFO: The Moutain Goats, The Moldy Peaches, Laura Jane Grace, John Prine, Field Medic, Pat the Bunny

"I started listening to her after going to a small show where she was one of the openers. She was so amazing and powerful that the main act couldn’t even compare (in my opinion)." - @mountain-dewitt

[onetrueloveontheside]

I want Jesus to take me out of this life, baby

And I talk to Jesus

And ask him if he’ll think of saving me

[ifelllikeastar]

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was born December 11, 1926 and died July 25, 1984 at the age of 57

[solazu1]

I have a hs au for marble hornets and I had the biggest, best idea EVER to force Jay into a folklorico dance club at school before realizing I can't because I already forced the little shit to do baseball after-school and both together would kill that small child. So i'm forcing Tim to do mariachi after-school stuff to heal my soul

[midlandcountrymusic]